You Are My Sanity
by Hannah-clocks
Summary: Bella's step-father Phil kills her mother in a fit of rage. Bella flees the scene only to be involved in a horrible, peculiar car accident. She wakes up in the hospital where a doctor, and friend, decides to give her a place to stay until she's eighteen
1. Chapter 1

"Stop! AHH!!!"

The screaming had been going on for about a half hour as I sat here in the dark corner of my bedroom, just listening. There was nothing I could do without making it worse.

I just got off the phone with the police department, and the first thing they told me to do was leave the house. My legs wouldn't cooperate though, so I stayed completely rooted to my spot. I couldn't leave, knowing what was happening to my own mother just behind the door that my eyes were currently glued to. But I also couldn't go out there. Phil had a gun; a huge, rather scary gun.

So I sat there, curled into a tight ball, with silent tears streaming down my face. The only thing that kept me in my current mind frame was the fact that the cops should be here any minute now. Phil would be arrested, and my mother and I would feel safe again; a feeling that I hadn't felt in months.

Then my entire world froze and collapsed.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Complete silence followed these deafening shots, followed by pacing footsteps. I sat completely still for about three seconds, before I ran for my life. I grabbed my keys off the dresser and kicked out the screen to our apartment window, jumping into the dark. I was now eternally grateful that our apartment was situated on the first floor, a fact that I used to always dislike.

I ran to my truck at the corner of the block, tripping a few times do to my clumsiness, though no pain registered. The only thought in my mind was to get the hell away from there. Away from anywhere.

The truck started on the first try with a deafening roar. I threw it into drive and tore down the road. Just as I made it to the corner, the door of the apartment complex burst open, and through the mirror on my rusty truck I saw the murderous face of my step father, Phil. That face would now haunt me, every single time I closed my eyes.

At that point I turned my eyes to face the road and stopped looking back. I could here some sirens behind my, but my brain was too fuzzy to imagine what they could possibly be for.

After about a half an hour of driving, I found myself on a deserted road, blockaded by towering woods on both sides, but I kept on driving with no intention to stop. The only way I would is if something made me. And make me it did.

Out of the blue a man seemed to suddenly appear in the center of the road. For one second our eyes met, and I realized he wasn't a man. He was an angel. A beautiful, bronze haired, pale, and for some reason, very confused looking, angel.

And then in the next second, my entire world went black at the sound of metal crunching against rock. The last thing I remember before my head collided with the steering wheel and I drifted off into unconsciousness was the face of that beautiful, confused angel.

**A/N: In complete writers block for my story Look After You, I decided to post the beginnings to a story tat has been floating around in my head for a couple months. Comments? Suggestions? Should I continue it? **


	2. Chapter 2

_The last thing I remember before my head collided with the steering wheel and I drifted off into unconsciousness was the face of that beautiful, confused angel._

Beep…beep…beep…

My ears started working first before any other senses came to. All I could hear was an annoying beeping, which I would have stopped if my arms weren't so damn heavy. Thankfully, my eyes opened a second later and I noticed all of the familiar bright lights and sterile white. The hospital, which was somewhat like a second home to my clumsy self.

My brain was still completely fuzzy, and I couldn't quite remember what brought me to this latest visit. That was always a bad sign. All I could remember was the beautiful face of an angel.

I tried to sit up, but the pain in my head became too unbearable, and I quickly crashed back down onto the mattress. So there I laid, trying to figure out why I was here. Finally, one of the nurses walked by and noticed that my eyes were open.

"Hey Bella, how are you feeling?" said the friendly nurse, Angela. She was a really good friend to me every time I had to come in here, always keeping thing light and joking, despite the setting. Although today she seemed a bit on edge coming in to the tiny hospital room.

"I've been better. How about yourself?" I asked, trying to show her that I was okay, in order to stop her from worrying.

"I'm fine," she said, but she still looked incredibly nervous.

"So, out of curiosity, what brings me here today?" I asked, still trying to figure out why I was lying in this bed and who that angel was.

She hesitated, shuffling her feet before answering. "Umm, let me go get the doctor. He would love to know that you are now awake, and he'll be able to give you an accurate description of you're injuries," responded Angela, before quickly exiting the room and escaping down the hallway.

Now this worried me. Angela had always been there to tell me what was up. I started panicking, knowing that something must be wrong. I stared up at the tiled ceiling, trying to calm myself, until a figure appeared at the foot of the bed.

I glanced up to see my favorite doctor, Carlisle Cullen. I couldn't help but calm down a bit at the friendly, familiar face. For the past year or so, he has helped me through almost every single injury I came across. Which is quite a lot knowing me.

**********************************************************

Fourteen Months Earlier

It was a hot June day, and I was crammed in the ER waiting room with a lot of other injured patients. I'd already been there for over an hour as the nurses slowly made their way through the crowded room. I was opted to wait fairly long, since my injury didn't seem to need immediate attention, unlike some of the people that came through here, such as the man who accidentally cut off two of his toes. I've spent a lot of times in ERs and have seen a lot of crazy things, but two severed toes even make me fairly queasy.

Finally one of the nurses called my name and directed me back to one of the exam rooms. She took some more basic information from me that I had left off my chart, and left me there to patiently wait for a doctor to come and help me out.

After counting 102 of the ceiling tiles, the door in front of me creaked open. I glanced up and the slight annoyance I had from waiting so long I had almost immediately disappeared.

A young handsome man, stood stunningly in front of me. He was pale as snow, but had the most perfect features I had ever seen on a man. I stilled for a few second, before I realized I had been starring. A familiar heat filled my face as I quickly looked down.

I faint chuckle came from the man, before he decided to speak, "Hello, my name is Carlisle Cullen, and you must be Isabella."

"Bella," I mumbled as a reflex, still looking down at my incredibly interesting shoe laces.

"Well then Bella, what seems to be the problem?" he asked. I looked up to see a polite smile chiseled on his beautiful face. I was slightly surprised that this man could be my doctor. He didn't look a day over 25.

I took a rather deep breath before replying, louder this time, but still nervously. "Broke my wrist. I'm pretty sure that it's just a hairline fracture of the ulna."

He seemed slightly stunned by my confession, before chuckling again. "Well, would you mind if I took a look?" he said, reaching his hand out.

I held out my left arm and he gently began to exam it. His hands were ice cold, but felt really good against my injury, so I didn't mind at all.

"It looks like you're right about the fracture, but we'll have to get an x-ray to make sure," he said, while releasing my arm. "Where did you learn so much about fractures, by the way?"

The heat came back to my face before I answer. "Well, this isn't my first broken arm in my life, not even close. It's actually more like my fifth."

"How do you break so many bones?" he asked politely, but his face became suddenly serious. I was quick to correct him though. I knew that face. It was the "child abuse" face that doctors give you when you show up to the ER way too often.

"I fall down a lot, Dr. Cullen. Seriously, I wasn't meant to walk. There is seriously something wrong with my coordination, and my luck. Today a slipped on a banana, which I only thought was possible in cartoons until now, and fell down some stairs."

He seemed to calm down a bit at that and we talked about all of my other unfortunate injuries on our way to the X-ray room. Dr. Cullen ended up to be a pretty laid back guy when you really got to talking to him, and he was a fountain of information on anything medical and historical. From that day on we became pretty good friends, seeing as I was in the hospital every few weeks with a new injury.

*************************************************************

Present

"Hey Carlisle," I greeted as he slowly grabbed the chart from the end of my bed. His face looked worried, mirroring the expression that Angela's had earlier.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked, not looking me in the eye as he read down my chart.

"I guess I'm fine, but might I ask what time it is…and what day?" I asked nervously, still having no idea what happened.

"It's 10:43, Tuesday morning," he finally met my eyes, but now he was looking at me as if I was crazy; great.

I nodded my head to his response, relieved that I had only been out for a day. The last thing I could remember was coming home from the store Monday afternoon.

"So are you going to tell me what happened or ignore me also, because this is really starting to freak me out?"

He hesitated for a second, before he took in my expression. It must have been determined, because he took a long sigh before opening his mouth to speak. "Bella, you were in a car accident."

"Oh," was all I could really say. I still couldn't remember being in an accident, or figure out why I was in a car. I usually walked everywhere. Carlisle still looked nervous, like I was going to start freaking out or something, but I couldn't quite figure out why.

"So," I began, not knowing what to say. I spoke the first thought that came to my mind, "When am I going home?"

Carlisle opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly shut it. If I wasn't completely and utterly confused before, that did the trick. In the entire time I had known Carlisle, he had never once had trouble with finding the right words. I always counted on him for knowing the right thing to say.

Finally, he spoke. "Bella, you're not going home," he said in a calm, careful voice.

"Why not?" I asked carefully. How could my car accident have effected whether I could go home or not? Then it clicked.

"Oh my gosh! Was my mom in the car?!? Is she okay?" My breathing increased almost to the point of hyperventilation as I went through the possibilities of what could have happened.

"Calm down Bella. Your mother was not in the car with you," he said, placing his cold hand on my shoulder to keep me still, which was a good thing, seeing as I was still in a lot of pain from the…car accident.

Then I realized that he didn't answer my question. "But she's okay, right?" I whisper. I knew the answer even before he spoke by the sorrowful expression on his face.

"Bella," he began, even more calm and quiet then before, "Last night, your mother, she was murder. Your step-father, Phil, shot her after a domestic dispute."

His concerned face became unfocused as visions from last night flooded into my mind. Me, hiding in my room; the gun shots; speeding away from the murderous face; and finally, images of a beautiful angel seconds before the crash. My brain went into overdrive for a few seconds with these images, before completely shutting down. For a second time, the image of that beautiful angel comforted me as my world faded to black.

**A/N: Wow! Thanks for the support people! All of your reviews, alerts, and favorites prompted me to write the second chapter to this new story! Thanks again, and remember, any type of review is welcome, and the more you review the more I'm motivated! **

**Update: I was added to a community! That has never happened before… "Bella/Edward Hurt/Comfort Stories"- koolio!**


	3. Chapter 3

_His concerned face became unfocused as visions from last night flooded into my mind. Me, hiding in my room; the gun shots; speeding away from the murderous face; and finally, images of a beautiful angel seconds before the crash. My brain went into overdrive for a few seconds with these images, before completely shutting down. For a second time, the image of that beautiful angel comforted me as my world faded to black._

I woke up to the familiar bright lights of the hospital again, and a confused haze filled my head for a few seconds. Then reality came crashing down. My mother was dead, my step father killed her, and I still didn't know the degree of my injuries. I had no family and no place to go. My mother was dead.

It took all I had to keep calm as I ran this through my head over and over again, still not completely grasping it all. It was like a scary movie or a nightmare or something. I no longer had a family, nor a home, nor any idea of where I was heading any time soon.

Finally, after staring at the ceiling contemplating my current situation, I finally had to get some answers. I rolled over to the side, glad to know that the dizziness was beginning to wear off, and pushed the call button. One of the newer nurses came running.

"Is everything okay," she asked rushing into the room. She looked pretty fluster. She must have just started working here.

"Um, yeah, everything is…okay, I guess," I said, but not quite believing it myself. Nothing was really "okay" anymore. "I was just wondering if Car-, err, Dr. Cullen was free to talk to right now. I kind of just had some questions."

The nurse gave me a sad smile before answering. "I'll go see if he's in his office." Then she turned to walk down the busy hallway, leaving me to think about my life some more. Out of all of what has happened to me in the past twenty four hours, two questions kept popping into my head. The first one was pretty obvious: What was going to happen now. Being sixteen and having no family pretty much left one option: foster care. That scared me, a lot.

The second question was something that had been bothering me since the crash: Who was the beautiful angel that kept popping into my head? I was going to ask Carlisle, but I didn't know how to bring it up, because, the way I saw it, there were only two options: either I hit the man, in which Carlisle would probably bring it up himself, or he was a figment of my own imagination, in which Carlisle just might think I'm crazy, or in shock. I really didn't want to go into those conversations right now.

As I wondered about this, Carlisle entered my tiny hospital room. He stood at the end of with something on his face that could have been called a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "How are you feeling Bella?"

"Physically, I'm feeling a lot better. Mentally…" I couldn't quite think of the right words for this kind of situation, so I just shook my head, but Carlisle understood, nodding his head. The air started to become tense, as we both knew the discussion that was coming.

"So, how bad are my injuries?" I wanted to start with something simple, not quite ready to go into the future yet.

"Well when hit the tree," Charlie paused for a second to give me a strange look, but I hardly took note, seeing as I was just glad I didn't run over anyone, "your head collided with the steering wheel and you past out. Other then that, you just have a few real minor scrapes and bruises. Your truck is actually in pretty good condition still. I can't say so much for the tree though." He chuckled a bit at that fact, before his face became serious again and the tension rose back up.

I took a deep breath before opening my mouth to speak a question I really didn't want to hear the answer to. "Carlisle, what's going to happen to me now?" I whispered, staring down at my hands.

"Well, a social worker will be in later today to discuss that with you, and then, after that, I'm really not sure…" His voice faded off and I looked up to see a sad frown plastered across his face as he shook his head. "I'll be back to check on you later," he said before turning around and walking out the door, eyes to the ground.

I felt like crying, and screaming, and just falling off the face of the earth. Instead I just stared up at the tiled ceiling, which seemed to have become a habit lately, and waited for someone to come and tell me everything was going to be all right. Sadly, reality wasn't that nice, and I wasn't quite sure everything would ever be alright again.

For three hour I sat there, unmoving, staring blankly into space, until the annoying clicking of heels halted at my doorway. I glanced up to the smiling face of a woman wearing a black dress-suit. She walked up to my bed and extended her hand. Confused, I shook her hand, waiting for an introduction.

"Hi, my name is Jessica Stanley, and I work for Social Services here in Chicago. You must be Isabella Swan," she said quickly in a high-pitched voice, still with a smile plastered on her face. I opened my mouth to correct her on my name, but slowly shut it, not really seeing the point of the minor correction anymore, nor did I really want to talk to her. What she did was going to select my future; a future that I wasn't ready to face.

I nodded, and her smile dropped a bit at my lack of response, and indifferent expression. "Well Isabella, I have a few questions to ask you before I determine were you will be living until you reach adulthood." And off she went, with a bunch of basic question, for which I gave the most basic answers, trying to use the least amount of words possible.

At one point in our mostly one sided conversation, we started getting into my family, or lack thereof. "Isabella, do you have any living family that you know of?"

"Nope," that was my sixth, different, one-word answer in a row. I was keeping track in order to keep my sanity though all this.

"You had said that you were living with your mother and step father, what about your real father? Do you know where he is?"

"Dead," seven answers. I knew that this was a little cold, but I really didn't want to get into it. I happened a long time ago, and I did all of my grieving. I was usually okay with telling people the story, but that would completely destroy my one word answer streak with this overly peppy woman.

*************************************************************

Ten Years Ago

My mother and I were sitting in our small kitchen in the town of Forks, Washington, when the news arrived. We had been talking about my day at school, of how I learned how to read a new book, and of how career day was coming up next week. My dad was supposed to come in and educate my first grade class on what it was like to be the Chief of Police to the good people of Forks.

The doorbell rang, and I quickly jumped out of my chair and stumbled over to answer it. Pulling the heavy door out of the way, I saw one of the officers that my dad worked with. He had taken me into the station quite a few times to meet his friends and they were always really fun to hang out with.

But today, even as little as I was, I could tell something was off. Officer Harry's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked incredibly broken standing in front of me. My mother came up behind me and shooed me out of the way, telling me to go play in my room.

After I got to my room, a loud sob came from down below. I quickly rushed to the top of the stairs in time to see my mother crumble to the ground, as Officer Harry engulfed her in his arms.

My father had been shot during an attempted robbery at the gas station.

We stayed in Forks long enough to attend the funeral and say our goodbyes, then we packed up and moved across country to Chicago. I really didn't want to leave, but I knew we had to go. Every time my mother looked around the house, or the town, or at all of the familiar people, it would take all see had not to break down.

The strange thing about the move was that, even though she took me away from Forks, it always seemed as if most of her stayed there along with the memory of my father. Ever since that day, Renee never seemed to really smile, or laugh, or love again. It always seemed as if she was only there in body; never mind, never spirit. Yeah, she did marry again, but that was solely to support us economically, and she always thought I needed a father figure in my life. But…that didn't turn out so well…

****************************************************

Present

For about twenty minutes Ms. Stanley asked me questions in an attempt to get me to open up. Finally, she gathered up her things and told me how she would be back within the next couple days. I looked up as she left the room, and saw Carlisle leaning against the wall across from my room. I was hoping that he would come in and talk to me for a bit, maybe take my mind off of what had been going on lately, but, to my disappointment, he just followed Ms. Stanley down the long, busy hallway, leaving me to stare at the ceiling some more.

**A/N- Thanks for the amazing amount of support! So, I know that the beginning here is a little slow, and a bit depressing, but the Cullens will be entering soon (within the next couple chapters). Also, always remember that reviews of any kind are welcome, and they motivate me to ignore everyone in my real life and focus on writing. Which is good news for you! Also, it might be a few days before my next update. I have to work…and sleep. See you soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

_I looked up as she left the room, and saw Carlisle leaning against the wall across from my room. I was hoping that he would come in and talk to me for a bit, maybe take my mind off of what had been going on lately, but, to my disappointment, he just followed Ms. Stanley down the long, busy hallway, leaving me to stare at the ceiling some more._

I was sitting on a cold cement floor in the corner of a dark room. My clothes wear old and torn, and I was freezing cold. I rocked back and forth, my knees to my chest, trying to find some warmth.

My head snapped up when the door creaked open. A man that I didn't recognize stepped into the room with a smile. But his smile wasn't a friendly one. He looked maniacal, evil. He came closer to me until he was towering over my shivering form, his piercing black eyes bearing into my own.

"How do you like your new home, Isabella?" he asked before breaking out into an evil laugh. As he laughed, his face became warp, as it changed into a much more familiar one; the face that had been my greatest fear for the past eleven months; the face of Phil Dwyer, my step-father. The expression mirrored the last expression I had ever seen on his face, the murderous glare that haunted me after looking into my rearview mirror as I sped away from the apartment.

Phil was holding his threatening gun, and he used it to smack me across the face. I could no longer hold in my fear and I began screaming at the top of my lungs.

I sat up in my hospital bed, soaked through in sweet and still screaming. A couple of nurse on the nightshift came rushing into my room, trying to figure out what was wrong. After a couple minutes, and a mild sedative, I finally calmed down sufficiently and the nurses left the room.

My brain was turning off as I drifted back into slumber, but this time I filled my mind with much calmer images. I ended up dreaming of my bronze haired angel straight through the night. The image of his beautiful face seemed to be the only thing that kept me sane through this screwed up and twisted reality.

************************************************************

The next morning I woke up to someone shaking me softly. My hands came up to my eyes and when I finally cleared the haze enough to open them up, I swear I jumped three feet into the air.

Inches in front of my face, were a pair of golden eyes staring down at me. While I attempted to restart my heart for the morning freak-out, the eyes moved back far enough so that I could get a clear view of the owner. Standing in front of was a short girl with shorter hair and skin as pale as snow. She had perfect features and perfect clothes to compliment everything. I would have guessed her age somewhere around my own, maybe a little older.

Another oddity was the fact that there was a giant smile on her pixie like face and she was jumping up and down, while staring at me. I quickly looked down at my sheets to avoid her gaze.

"Hi, Bella!" she said excitedly in a voice that sounded like bells. My head snapped up in confusion. I had no idea who this person was. I would remember a person as peculiar as this.

"Hello?" I answered, though it sounded much more like a question.

"We're going to have so much fun," she said even more excitedly, smile still plastered on her face.

I was about to open my mouth to start trying to find some answers to my confusion, but another figure entered the room, stopping me in my tracks. His frame filled the doorway, and it surprised me that he was able to make it through. He had a body that was easily three times the size of my own, and brown curly hair. His skin and eyes matched those of the girl. Although his giant features seemed incredibly intimidating, he had the facial features that looked almost childish, which immediately took away all fear. He looked older than the girl, maybe in his late teens, early twenties.

"Alice, calm down. You're scaring her," he said, with a voice as musical as the girl. Alice, I suppose. Even though he sounded scolding, he was smiling playfully at Alice.

At this, she seemed to calm a little as she turned to face the boy. "But Emmett, I'm so excited," she whined, even though her grin remained. It seemed as if nothing could take away her happiness.

I had finally come down from my shock enough to speak, but all of questions seemed to scramble together when I opened my mouth. "Who—why—how—what are you doing in here?" I finally spat out.

The both turned to look at me, and my face reddened at the sudden attention. The boy, Emmett, was the first to speak, just not to me. "Can I tell her, Alice? Please, please, please." I would have laughed at the irony if I wasn't so utterly confused, still.

Alice closed her eyes for a second, becoming completely still, then she looked over at Emmett. "Not yet, were going to have to wait for Carlisle to get here, or she's not going to believe and will become even more confused," I really couldn't see how that was possible.

At the mention of Carlisle I became a little calm, before I started to question that too. "You know Carlisle?" I asked, trying to at least get something out of the pair.

Alice seemed to notice my distress over the situation and decided to answer a question of mine. "Yeah, Carlisle's our father. He'll be here in 27 second to explain everything."

This made some sense; the Carlisle part, not the 27 second thing. Carlisle did mention before that he had adopted a bunch of teenagers that were about my age.

The room became silent for quite a few seconds, and I looked around waiting for something to happen. I wanted to ask another question, but I thought it best to wait for a familiar face to get here. And sure enough, after about half a minute Carlisle came rushing into the now very crowded hospital room. He glanced at my confused face, before giving his children a pointed glance.

"I told you guys to wait for me," he scolded.

"We haven't said anything yet, honest," defended Emmett.

"Yeah we didn't want to scare her…too much," added Alice.

Carlisle crossed his arms, staring down the pair. Then he turned to give me a sheepish look. "I see you've met my children. They really are good people. They just can be a bit overwhelming." He over stressed the last part, while sending Alice and Emmett another point glance. The two shrunk back in embarrassment, while Emmett released a nervous laugh. I couldn't help but smile at there family antics.

Carlisle returned his gaze to me and he seemed to relax a bit when he realized that I was smiling instead of running for the hills. "So, I suppose I have quite a bit of explaining to do…" He trailed of at that, a contemplating look on his face.

"Oh, oh, Carlisle, can I tell her? Can I?" Emmett was practically jumping up and down, his hands together pleading. He reminded me of a giant teddy bear.

Carlisle hesitated before answering. "I'm not sure if that's the best idea…" Emmett's lip pouted out and Carlisle turned to Alice.

Alice shrugged, "I don't see anything too bad happening if he told her."

In defeat, Carlisle shook his, rolled his eyes, and waved Emmett onward.

Emmett stepped in front of me, cleared his throat and took a deep breath. He stood there for a few seconds, building suspense, before finally speaking. "You're going to be our new sister."

Now I was completely confused. I faintly heard Alice giggle in the corner, as Carlisle shooed Emmett away, mumbling something under his breath, which just made Alice laugh harder. He took Emmett's spot, and looked at me sheepishly for the second time that morning.

"You see Bella, last night, after the social worker was finished talking to you, I caught her on the way out. We went back to her office and started talking. We went over a lot of paper work and things. Well, nothings been approved yet, but I got permission for you to stay with my family until she finds you a proper foster home. You don't have to if you don't want to, but I just thought that with everything going on lately, you wouldn't really want to be placed in an orphanage right now and…" His voice faded off as he ran out of things to rant about.

My mouth had fallen open during his speech, and I quickly shut it. I couldn't do anything about how wide my eyes had gotten in surprise though. The biggest fear that I've had since I found out what happened was going to live with a bunch of strangers; but living with Carlisle, a man who had been one of my best friends over the past year, a man who I already looked up to as a parental figure.

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just smiled up to him. Alice must have taken it as a good thing, because she started jumping up and down, her smile wider than ever.

"So, would you like to?" asked Carlisle.

"I would love to."

**A/N- Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews and I appreciate every one of them. I meant to have this chapter up yesterday but my stupid computer froze on me. Luckily most of the chapter was saved. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and remember, reviews=happiness=motivation=faster updates=sooner Edward comes into the story. So yeah…REVIEW!!! **

**(Wow, when I went to save the chapter, I realized that its abbreviation spells "YAMS", lol)**


	5. Chapter 5

_I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just smiled up to him. Alice must have taken it as a good thing, because she started jumping up and down, her smile wider than ever._

_"So, would you like to?" asked Carlisle._

_"I would love to."_

After a few minutes Carlisle shooed everyone out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I was still left staring up at the sterile white tile ceilings, but now with a genuine smile; the first genuine smile I've had in what felt like years. My life started going straight down hill a year or so ago, and seemed to just crash and burn last week. I guess what they said is right after all: once you hit the bottom, the only way you have left to go is up.

Soon, the jittery excitement began to wear off and I was then left with trying to put all my crazy thoughts and experiences over the last week into some sort of straight organized line. There's where I came up with the two things I knew for certain and the two things I was still completely lost about.

First off, I knew my mother was dead. This thought kept creeping up on me every few minutes, and every time it did it felt like a fresh punch in the stomach, wiping the happiness off my face and replacing it with an empty hollow feeling of dread.

Also, and on a much light note, I finally had some sort of certainty as to where my life was heading, at least for a little while. The Cullen's were going to take me in, which was the best news I could have possibly received when faced with everything going on at the time. Carlisle was one of the nicest, most inviting people I knew, and his children, even though I only met two of them for however brief a time, seemed to share some of his charming, inviting qualities themselves.

As for the "completely lost" things, I had no idea what happened with Phil. He was still haunting my dreams, and my head pretty much every time I closed my eyes. Carlisle had mentioned that he shot my mother, which I had remembered from the dreadful night, but I didn't stick around enough to figure out the outcome, and for good reason. The thought that this man could possible still be out there, sent the room spinning with shivers going down my spin. I could hear the beeping of the near by monitors begin to quicken as my hearing began to dull as if I was in some sort of tunnel. I focused on the noise in order to bring me back to reality and slow my heart down before any of the nurses became concerned. With my head cleared, I put this on the top of my list to ask Carlisle when I got the chance.

The other thing I couldn't get out of my head was the beautiful angel face I encountered that night. My delusion looked so real, I can still remember every feature. The pale, chiseled face, the golden eyes, and the wavy bronze-colored hair. I still didn't know what it meant. Maybe I almost died in the crash. This would make sense, only Carlisle said my injuries were pretty minor, other than hitting my head, and I also remembered seeing the boy before blacking out. I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

My head started pounding terribly at this point, so I decided to clear my head of thought, and drifted off to sleep with only the image of the angel face left, keeping me sane.

**A/N: So...yeah. It's been a while. A couple years of a while. This is just a bit of a catch up chapter...seeing as I even had to reread the story. I really want to get back into writing, so if there's anyone out there, drop a review in the box. Anyone? Hello? *Echo, Echo, Echo* If your curious where I've been, I'll update it all on my profile.**


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